Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: New Slaves
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"My lord! We've brought them all!"
The merchants came in bound like salted fish drying in a row. Their interrogations would be handled at the castle. It was funny— we'd been short on manpower lately, and here they were, volunteering to become slaves.
"Agh!"
"Take it easy!"
"My lord! It's a misunderstanding!"
They screamed and writhed on the floor, then spotted me and shouted desperately. But what misunderstanding? Their escort soldiers had already spilled everything.
I slowly scanned them, and the merchants shook their heads.
"Assassinating a noble? We've never been involved in anything like that!"
"We're not crazy enough to attack you, my lord!"
I shook my head at their desperate pleas, feigning anger as I glared at them.
"Didn't I give you trouble over the leather business today, and you protested? You scoundrels... Did you think you could attack the lord and get away with it scot-free?"
"Oh no, that's not it!"
"Do you have proof?"
One merchant shouted about proof. If they wanted proof, I'd give it to them. I gestured behind me, and Cutter quickly brought in the escort soldiers. Their ankles were tied with rope, hanging like laundry on a line—these were the veterans among those who'd led the attack.
And beneath their heads were tubs filled with water... No explanation needed for their purpose.
"Aren't these your escort soldiers? And you still deny it with such clear evidence right here!"
"......"
The merchants fell silent. They must have been confused. Why were the escort soldiers they'd sent to attack Hans's caravan captured by me?
"These aren't our escort soldiers!"
One merchant spoke up, and even in their near-death state, one of the hanging soldiers yelled with all his might.
"Caravan leader! No, you bastard! You ordered it! Attack Hans's caravan, you said! Now you're cutting ties because I asked for a raise last time?"
"You scum! Spouting nonsense! I've never employed trash like you as an escort!"
The room turned into pandemonium. I smiled inwardly in satisfaction but outwardly kept my furious expression.
"So one of you is lying. Guards! They must be thirsty. Give them a taste of Lucas territory's finest water!"
"Yes, my lord!"
At my command, the waiting soldiers dragged away the merchant who'd just shouted. Sure, he was a wealthy merchant, but in the end, just a commoner. Involved in an assassination plot against a lord, a little interrogation wouldn't hurt.
"Stop this! How can you torment us like this?"
As the merchant was dragged toward the hanging mercenaries, Cassia Baron leaped to her feet and shouted.
"I'm a noble! And I have no connection to these people! I stake my noble honor on it!"
Now noble honor was invoked. It didn't make sense that she had no ties to them—she was their ringleader. But I smiled faintly and said to her,
"Hmm... If you're staking your noble honor..."
Even nobles couldn't easily escape an assassination plot against a lord. Especially not a fake noble like a baroness. She must have been desperate... but it didn't matter. My target wasn't her anyway—it was the other merchants.
And now the merchants wouldn't stay quiet. Facing death, they reached out to Cassia Baron like drowning men grabbing at straws.
"Damn it! Cassia Baron! That woman's the mastermind!"
"No! I had nothing to do with it!"
It was chaos. Some merchants screamed that Cassia Baron was the leader, others denied any involvement to the bitter end, and Cassia insisted she had no ties.
Bam!
I slammed the chair arm, which shattered and fell to the floor. The merchants paled and flinched as I glared at them fiercely.
"Do you think I gathered you here for your games? Guards! That one looks thirsty—serve him some water!"
"Yes, my lord!"
"Spare me! My lord! My lor..."
The merchant who'd been dragged earlier was hauled off again. Soon after, he returned drenched, as if he'd drunk a lake.
"I'll confess everything... Cassia Baron... was behind it... And the other merchants too... They held a grudge because you wouldn't let them into the leather business..."
One taste of water, and he spilled it all. The other merchants went silent. They knew the tide had turned. No one would escape now, so only one option remained.
"We were wrong! Spare us!"
"We weren't attacking you—we were going after Hans's caravan!"
"Cassia Baron led it...!"
Confessions poured out. Cassia Baron laughed hollowly at the pathetic sight. She looked at me with eyes full of resignation.
"You already knew. This was just a stage for our execution."
She was right—evidence overflowed. I'd watched them from start to finish. But I shook my head with a smile.
"What are you saying? Didn't you say you had no connection? Of course... I don't expect you to uphold noble honor with mere words."
The incident concluded like that. The merchants' assets all went into my coffers, and they were sentenced to death and thrown into the dungeon. Of course, I didn't confiscate everything.
"You're free to go. A final mercy between fellow nobles."
Cassia Baron was released—but only after surrendering all her wealth. Having lost the money she'd brought for the magic beast hide trade, she glared at me briefly before riding off on her last remaining asset: her horse.
"Spare us! We never intended that!"
After wrapping things up, I descended to the underground dungeon, where the imprisoned merchants wailed. They'd worked hard to become merchants as commoners, but in an instant, they'd lost vast fortunes and now their lives.
"I'm Viscount Wayne's loyal taxpayer! At least let me write a letter to the viscount..."
But I had no intention of killing them. Why smash a watermelon that came with the vine? The death sentences were just to break their spirits.
As I looked down quietly, they sensed hope and shouted names of nobles they knew. But...
"Quiet."
They shut their mouths at my single word. Their spirits seemed sufficiently crushed, but a little more wouldn't hurt.
"Pick the first one to die."
To use them as slaves in my territory, I couldn't let them band together. I tossed them paper, ink, and pens, chuckling inwardly as they eyed each other warily.
"Viscount Lucas... Viscount Lucas!!"
A hysterical voice echoed through the empty wheat field. Cassia, having lost all the money she'd brought for the magic beast hide trade and suffered unprecedented humiliation, glared at Lucas Castle with burning eyes.
"I'll have my revenge... no matter what..."
She believed it was all Viscount Lucas's trap. A vile scheme to seize her and the merchants' wealth, and she'd fallen for it. Otherwise, why would a viscount be with that tiny caravan?
Moreover, it was heading not to a nearby territory but to the Burvan Empire. What lord travels there without proper escorts?
Gritting her teeth as she recalled Kyle's face, she halted her horse briefly before turning in another direction. She was heading to the territory of a noble she was close with.
Five days after confiscating the merchants' assets and issuing death sentences.
"We pledge our utmost loyalty!"
The merchants knelt, bowing their heads to me in loyalty. They glared at each other like they wanted to kill. They'd nearly died because of one another.
Simply tossing them paper and pens to pick victims had them turning on each other. Each time one was dragged away, the survivors sighed in relief—then fought again to choose the next.
It was all a show, but it worked perfectly. Not everyone survived, though. The last two, the most hated and politically savvy, were hanged to eliminate future threats.
"These will assist you. Use them well..."
Gringem's stern mouth curved up to his ears, a sign of how much easier territory management would be with them.
"To wrangle seasoned merchants like them in one go..."
Hans looked at me in admiration. To someone from my old life in Korea, this was basic divide-and-conquer.
I decided to advise Hans, who watched me with sparkling eyes.
"Don't use it lightly... Now go. I've assigned plenty of escorts, so no worries about bandits or monsters on the way to the Burvan Empire."
"Yes, my lord! I'll sell them for top price and return!"
Last time, I nearly lost the hides because I didn't notice in time, so this time I sent proper escorts. The hides were compact, just one wagon, but fifty mercenaries strong.
With that, Hans departed for the Burvan Empire with the hides. He'd return loaded with Burvan gold coins.
"Do they use pounds there too?"
Sipping tea a maid brought, lost in such thoughts, I noticed the scenery outside. The territory's war scars had long faded. Then, a single horse galloped toward the mansion entrance.
"I've seen that crest before?"
It was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Noble crests looked similar from afar—detailed up close, but generic otherwise.
Cligrove's, for example, used a lion on a gold coin. Gold coins, lions, eagles... common motifs everywhere.
"Come to think of it, our territory doesn't have a proper crest."
The one we'd used was a hasty design from before joining the subjugation force—a helmet with vines. Time for a real one.
Knock knock!
As I pondered crest ideas, someone knocked on the office door.
"A messenger from Viscount Wayne's family."
Viscount Wayne? I racked my brain. Right next door, a small territory with good mines—decently prosperous.
"Let them in."
I cleared the messy desk, sat with a stern face, and received the visitor from Viscount Wayne's family.